Thunder
by averyhyperhanyou
Summary: The Begining of an Adventure that he didnt quiet understand all started, with a box. Naruto travles across the Shinobi world, learning and growing.. and falling in love with a blond-haired suna-nin. tis indeed, today IS a winding road, he just has no idea


So here I am, eating a snickers bar and listening to music (two of my favorite Things in the world, snickers and music) when this idea for fic hit me, and I don't know why but I feel… compelled to write this out, to get it on paper before the idea for it completely leaves my head. So here I am, bringing you Thunder.

I'm not quiet sure what it was that set me in this direction, maybe it's the fact that I've given up on finding my usual super-powered Naruto fictions, and just went with the flow and read one fic after another, and most of them being Naruto/Temari fics I felt like I wanted to write one of my own, so here I am, opening another snickers bar and listening to music as I bring you this story.

Its set post-time skip, RIGHT after the retrieve Gaara arc, but in this case Sasori didn't give them the details about a spy in Akatsuki. ANYWAYS!

Ladies and Gents, I bring you… Thunder.

Now for starts I will say this is a NARUTO/TEMARI fanfic, so don't bother asking for any pairings, for him at least. That is what this entire storyline is on, and I wont have it any other way, plus the way I've plotted it out I'm not sure it would WORK any other way :/. Anyways, on with the story ne?

KEY:

"Yo!" Speaking.

'Yo!' Thoughts.

_Bwhahahahah _this describes when I flashback is happening, though I will normally tell you when those are going on.

As more things are needed, I will add more to the key

DISCLAIMER: I'm only gonna say this once, because I hate having to say it in every chapter. I do not own Naruto or anything else that I clearly don't own that I chose to put in this story.

Without further ado, let us get started.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++CHAPTER 1++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Taking Leave+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Naruto yawned lightly as he walked down the streets of Kohona, glancing around at the usual sites and sounds. He just got back from visiting his favorite ramen joint, and was currently on the lookout for the familiar blob of pink hair that he called his teammate.

Yawning once again as he glanced around for her, he turned a corner and stopped, standing there and staring ahead. There in front of him, was a box. Now this box wasn't painted like a rock, nor was it upside down. In fact there was nothing special about this box at all, except for the fact that it was a box.

Naruto blinked lightly as he stared, it was a rather large box, as box's go, and he had the urge to just… sit in it. He didn't know WHY he had this urge, this compulsion to sit in a box, but he did. And so Naruto did just that, he sat in the box. And thus that box became a… box, but now…

It was a box… with a fox. Cause what box is complete without a fox? Well no box is complete without a fox, because fox's and boxes are just about as rhythmically possible green-eggs and ham, and no I won't Sam I am.

Now while Naruto sat there, pondering the rhythmical possibilities of boxes and foxes and green-eggs and ham, he had completely forgotten what he was originally intending to do, which was scout out Sakura, so it came as a rather large surprise when he heard a voice behind him. Such a large surprise in fact that our fox, in his box, with his black socks, tipped over in surprise, and landed on rocks.

"Naruto? What are you doing in a box?" Came his teammate's voice, causing Naruto to turn around quickly, which resulted in the previously stated rhythmic terror that involved socks boxes fox's and rocks. Groaning out lightly in pain he sat up and rubbed the top of his head, wincing lightly feeling the bump that was quickly swelling on top of his noggin. Looking upwards he was met with the familiar sight of pink hair and green eyes.

"I was sitting in a box, because I was a fox in a box with black socks, then I hit the rocks." Naruto mumbled out, only causing his companion to look at him more strangely then she was before, but that was soon remedied when he stood up, and whipped himself off before turning to his companion.

"Umm… Sakura-Chan I was wondering… if you wanted to go on a date tonight with me?" He asked, rubbing his head not only to dull the aching pain his fall from his box, to the rocks, had caused him. Sakura huffed lightly as she looked at him, her green eyes scanning his appearance.

Now she was NOT in a good mood, today had been a rather long, dull, boring day. So boring in fact that the only remotely entertaining thing she had seen all day was Naruto in his box, tipping over and hitting rocks. So she had a lot of pent up anger that she had been holding for a few weeks now, and for some reason this boy just seemed to push her over the edge. This was probably the cause for her unusually angry outburst at said boy.

"Naruto stop asking me, I'm never gonna date you. Don't you get it, you're like my best friend but I would NEVER date you. I have never even thought about dating you, and I wish you would just give it a rest. You're my best friend but I seriously want you to just stop asking me, the answer is always gonna be no!" Now were as this was a much bigger improvement to how she USED to treat the blond haired boy in front of her, the way she had worded her retort had hurt him more then any of those ever had.

"Ah… It's okay… I'll stop asking now okay… I'm gonna go and… get some ramen or something. Bye Sakura-ch… bye Sakura, see you around ne?" With that he gave a wave, but for some reason couldn't force himself to smile like he normal could. Trotting out of her range of view, he let his face fall and his happy jog to slow to a walk.

Or more precisely a walk of a man defeated and humbled. This was not the walk of someone who was determined, or someone who was ABSOULUTY sure that there things would be there regardless of weather it took them five minutes or five years to get to that point. No, this was a sad, slow, horrible walk of a man depressed.

Back in the alley, Sakura's face fell as she realized that she had just taken her anger out on her teammate, and thus she ran after him to solve that problem, to apologize and maybe even take him up on his offer. But when she rounded the corner, no Naruto was in sight. Sighing lightly she resolved to make it up to him at a later date, and to apologize profusely for what she had said.

Meanwhile with Naruto, today was just getting worse. First it started with box's and rocks, then continued with Sakura's rejection, and now with the villagers normal hate filled stares and glares. Now normally this wouldn't bother the young ninja, havening dealt with it for the majority of his 16 years of age. But today was just not his day, and as he walked, he began to feel there hate seep into him.

Turning into an alley quickly he sat down and laid his head in his hands, looking downwards. Why did he even stay here, sure he had a few special people here to him, but was it really worth all the hate, and all the pain caused by those who resented him? He wasn't sure, now that's not to say he was going to abandon his village, but he felt he might need to… take a break so to say.

So with that in mind, he stood up and made his way to the Hokage's tower, marching right up those stares, ignoring the Shizune's calls for him to stop, and marched his blond ass straight into the Tsunade's office. Now while this was normal, and thus didn't cause said big-breasted hokage to give it any though, what happened next did indeed give her much to ponder.

"Hokage-sama." Naruto said, bowing his head lightly. This simple gesture of respect towards authority caused Tsunade to blink and look at him in all seriousness.

"Yes Naruto?" she questioned, observing the blond boy as he bit his lower lip before responding, his eyes respectfully on the ground the entire time, which was VERY unlike him.

"I request a leave of absence, one year maximum." Shizune, who was currently snooping in on there conversation let out a small gasp in surprise, but nothing compared to what Tsunade herself did, which was gasp and then immediately reply.

"Denied, your dismissed Uzumaki-san." Naruto sighed lightly as he looked upwards, before speaking once more, his voice portraying wisdom beyond his years, and an overtone of sadness and grievance in it.

"I'm… tired Tsunade… so very tired." This caused the Tsunade to look at him once more, her gaze showing the confusion her mind was currently having with what the blond had just said. Naruto noticing this immediately responded to her unasked question.

"I'm tired of the hurt… I'm tired of the glares and I'm tired of dealing with this. Please Hokage-Sama I implore you, allow me this leave of absence so I can collect myself, and train in the spare time I would have." Naruto said, his head moving to a respectable bow. Tsunade sighed before she thought it over, weighing the pros and cons in her mind lightly as she considered what the blond had just laid on the table.

'It is true that he has it hard here, and even most battle hardened shinobi would have trouble putting up with what he has for this long. 'She thought to herself. 'But even still… Akatsuki is on the move… but he has deserved this, and I know he can take care of himself.'

"All right Naruto, you have one year, and you may leave whenever you wish so long as it is within today. I wish you look little brother, and I hope you find whatever it is you're looking for out there in the world." She said, stamping down on the folder for his request, before putting it in the out box. Naruto nodded lightly as he smiled at her, before bowing once more.

"Thank you Tsunade-sama. See you in a year… baa-chan." He said and bolted from the room as soon as he could, snickering to himself as he heard cries of rage come from the Hokage's office. He smiled lightly as he made his way home, he wanted to get out of this town as soon as possible, and for him that meant within the hour. That meant he had to get home, pack and get out of there, right away.

Sighing lightly as he stood in front of his closet, he smiled softly. He wanted to get out without anyone knowing he had left, so he opted to use some clothes he RARLY, if ever for that matter, wore. Slipping on the black mesh shirt, and the black hoodie, as well as the gray cargo pants, he put the hood up and lifted his travel pack onto his back, before heading out the door.

An Hour later, he was out of Konoha, and had absolutely no idea where he was gonna go. He smirked lightly at that though.

'Perfect'

+++++++++++++++++++++++End Chapter 1+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Haha, so that's it so far. Don't worry the beginning of the story will be slow, because I don't relay have much of that plotted out, but after that it will pick up considerably. Read and review please, I appreciate your input, I'll probably have the next chapter out before the end of the day as well, but we'll see.

PERIVEW: Naruto gets lost, Sakura and the others find out Naruto left, and a blond-haired Suna-nin has an interesting encounter with a box.


End file.
